UGANDA : Odeke hails KCCA resilience after clinching fourth crown

And so it ended like it began. KCCA Leopards
beat UCU Lady Canons 62-60 in Game Seven of the National Basketball
League final series to clinch their fourth title on Tuesday night at
YMCA.

62-60 was the same score in Game One of the
series, which Leopards won before falling 3-1 in the series as Lady
Canons threatened to easily run away with a second straight title. But
Leopards, champions in 2007, 2009 and 2012, made a remarkable recovery
to win three straight games of the series.

“You could say we deserved to win for the courage
we showed in coming from 3-1 down,” KCCA coach Timothy Odeke, who has
now won three titles with the team said after the decisive game. “After
going 3-1 down, some of my players stopped believing but I told them to
take it one game at time,” he explained.

UCU bossed the first half of the Tuesday
encounter, winning the opening two quarters 19-14 and 20-13. There were
huge doubts KCCA could close the 12-point gap at half time. “Their big
men bullied us at the start of the game but they were using a lot of
energy and in the process tired out,” Odeke explained about his team’s
slow start.

Gladly for Odeke, three players, particularly
Rebecca Akullo stepped up. The guard scored 21 points on the night
including the final shot that sealed the title. KCCA are now level with
UCU on four titles but three behind record champions Lady Bucks. “She
(Akullo) took charge of the offence while Muhayimina Namuwaya and Jackie
Basemera limited them defensively,” Odeke said, picking out the trio
for praise.

Claire Lamunu, who averaged a series high 21
points again topped the charts with 24 and picked 12 rebounds
complimented by five assists. “I would not be surprised if one of Lamunu
or Akullo is chosen as MVP,” Odeke predicted. For UCU, Maureen Amoding
scored a team high 18 points with Purity Odhiambo adding 14 while Judith
Naansobya was restricted to 11 points.“

We just seemed to run out of steam. This was
probably not our time to win,” UCU coach Boniface Okello said in
reference to the measly five points that his team managed in the fourth
quarter.